Allegations of Plagiarism Spark Debate, Anger at Toronto High School.

Michael Conti, a Grade 10 student at Toronto’s Central Technical School found himself at the centre of a fierce dispute between his parents, his teacher and school administrators on Thursday morning.

The incident came to light shortly after dinnertime Wednesday, when Conti’s mother discovered a recently graded paper at the bottom of his knapsack.

In addition to the failing grade on the Civics CHV201 paper, the handwritten comments from his instructor Ms. Erin Woodward strongly alleged that Conti had participated in an act of plagiarism.

“Our son is a good boy.” Rita Conti asserted early Thursday. “No drugs. No fights. No nothing. He come home from school, play road hockey, do his homework and watch his shows on tv. Maybe sometimes he plays video games with his friend. He is a normal, good teenager.”

Woodward, 32, vehemently defended her actions. “Right from the introduction paragraph I got the feeling that I had read certain exerts before. Okay, here’s an example: ‘In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important, groups: the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders’. That’s from something…right?”

The boy’s father Michael Conti Sr. insists that the burden of proof is the responsibility of the teacher. “I called the lady there at the school and I says for her to show me. You say Mikey ripped off his paper, show me the book, show me the website. You got nothing. It’s one of them Habeas Corpes things.’”

“Okay first of all, that is absolutely not what Habeas Corpes means.” Woodward countered from her Roncesvalles home. “Secondly, regardless of my comments that certain sentences in the paper sound extremely familiar to me, the paper was entirely off topic. It was supposed to be about the rights of indigenous people in the Canadian Legal System. All of Michael’s examples are basically disconnected point-form notes from various cases in New York City that make numerous references to ‘the detectives of the Major Case Squad.’”

The school’s principal Don Langston expressed regret that the situation had escalated to the point that it has. “It is very very unfortunate that Ms. Woodward chose to speak with you without discussing this with me first. But that is a separate issue that will be dealt with internally. With regards to plagiarism, this is an issue that we take very seriously at our school. It is important for students to realize that although academic papers may be inspired in part by actual sources, they cannot depict these ideas as their own without citing their references. Although we are always sensitive to all of the concerns of our parents, we take great pride in the professionalism of our teaching staff. I have not personally read the paper in question, but I’m absolutely confident that, in a timely manner, Ms. Woodward will provide me with concrete examples of instances where Mr. Conti has taken liberties.”

“I know it’ll come to me. I just can’t put my finger on it. It’s driving me crazy.” said Woodward. “But I stand by the grade. Take a look at the concluding paragraph: ‘And so from the examples presented here, we can clearly see that in the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad, known as the Special Victims Unit.’ Now what possible relevance does that have to The Indian Act of 1876?”

Although unable to be reached for comment, sources close to the 15 year old say the teen is “very embarrassed” about the incident at his school. According to a text message sent to an unnamed source, Michael expressed his disappointment at all of the “trippin” that the situation has caused amongst his family.